“For our demands are most moderate, we only want the Earth”

James Connolly, Songs of Freedom (1907)

The Independent Workers’ Union of Ireland stands as a fighting organisation of the working class, committed to breaking the grip of exploitation and building a society where workers hold and exercise power. In 2026, our mission is to forge a disciplined, democratic, and unapologetically militant union that advances the collective strength, consciousness, and liberation of all workers across Ireland.

We are rooted in the belief that the organised working class is the primary force for change in Ireland and that only through united, organised, and determined struggle can we dismantle the structural injustices that concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the few.

We commit to:

• Building a powerful, worker-led movement that refuses subordination to corporate interests, political parties, or bureaucratic institutions.
  
• Organising the workers; precarious, migrant, gig, service, care, retail, and all workers denied security and dignity.
  
• Waging class struggle through collective action, using the strength of solidarity, direct worker participation, and industrial mobilisation to challenge exploitation and win transformative gains.
  
• Confronting the systems of power; economic, political, and social that profit from inequality, and advancing a vision of an Ireland where wealth is controlled by those who produce it.
  
• Reviving a militant working class tradition, grounded in the history of Irish labour, republican ideals of democratic sovereignty, and the international struggle against oppression.
  
• Building dual power in workplaces and communities, creating democratic structures where workers make decisions collectively, transparently, and independently.
  
• Fostering deep class consciousness, understanding that the fight for better wages and conditions is inseparable from the broader struggle for freedom, equality, and social transformation.
  

The IWU stands as a radical, independent force for working class empowerment committed to challenging the domination of capital, defending the oppressed, uniting the exploited, and building a future where workers claim the power that is rightfully theirs.